I replaced mine with a rebuilt starter rather then try and rebuild it (never know what you will find). My biggest problem was removing the starter due to what i saw as lack of clearance. I had to remove the inboard engine exhaust stud and the starter came right out. First thing you should do is disconnect the battery. Grind down a 10MM Open end wrench so that it is "thin" to hold the stud on the starter power lead, you will need another 10MM wrench as well to remove the nut off the starter (thats if you plan on rebuilding your starter). Take off your side fairing and remove crash bar, 10MM nuts on U-joint bracket, 14 mm nut, and 19 mm nut from the bottom. Remove your shifter lever ,10mm bolt. "MAKE SURE YOU HAVE BIKE ON THE SIDE STAND"!!! not center stand or you can risk losing the chain on the sprocket and probably encounter bigger $$$ problems. If your starter is longer than OEM then you will need to drop the LH exhaust pipes ("4" 10mm nuts) and remove the INBD exhaust stud, (i bought a kit on line for this P/N SUN8804M $24.16), my studs were very corroded and I bought in advance new 8MM studs to replace the old ones. Remove the two bolts from your starter 8MM. Wiggle starter fwd and rotate aft and outboard... she should come right out. This was a very easy job after I got the tool to remove the exhaust stud (good investment stud remover tool kit, 6mm, "8mm", 10mm, 12mm sockets...spray down in advance with PB Blaster)! Hope this helps and good luck!

Thanks for all the help. I must have got lucky as I disconnected the battery and the lead off the starter. Removed the 2 mounting bolts popped it out and lifted it up a little and it was out. Never had to remove anything but the battery leads. Now as long as it goes back in as easy i will be happy. Thanks again.

I have a 81 gl1100I and mine was the same way out without taking anything else off. Back in was a lot of fun but it went in. Wierd thing was I had to use the new gear that came with the new starter inside the engine. That was fun doing the exchange. The old gear did not fit the new starter. Looked the same but must have been off just a little. I also used a little grease to hold the gear in place while I moved the starter into place. Worked for me. Good Luck!!!

Removing starter is not a big deal..It is located near to the shifter..Keep bike on stand and don't move it after removing starter..Just disconnect battery,wires coming to starter and remove mounting bolts on starter..Pull it towards back side and its done..Common problems of stater are wear and tear of brushes or starters wear down or carbon fills between grooves making starter wires to short out..

I am working on my brother-in-law's '82 Interstate. I have just received the replacement starter which is a rebuilt unit and it came with a new sprocket. It is going to be interesting to exchange those sprockets. The old starter came out easy enough after I followed the instructions I found in the 'how to' department on this site. Pretty cool.
I was just going to clean the old commutator up and maybe replace the brushes but I discovered that the tab/wire from the field coils to the brush plate had broken/come adrift. Fairly easy to fix but I just don't have any gas or a heavy enough soldering iron/gun. Oh! Well! The b-i-l found the rebuilt one for about a third of the price of a new one. The Honda dealership here in Ocala, FL wanted about $530.00. WOW
I also have to strip down and clean/rebuild the carbs because my dufus b-i-l did not turn his petcocks off and the crankcase filled with fuel.
I am also working on my '79 Yamaha 750 triple. I have just bought and mounted a remote starter switch for it because the original was broken/missing. I have eliminated the engine cut out switch to because I have rerouted the wiring down to the frame near the battery box. I hope/think I will be able to figure out how to hook up the switch. Any suggestions? I have not been able to find a readable schematic on any of my Yamaha websites.